Unthinkable
by Bellalyse Winchester
Summary: Headcanon of Series 6.2, before Let's Kill Hitler comes out.  Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Angst-now with plot!**

**I should very much be working on my summer homework, but I decided to start a new fanfiction instead! :D Ain't I a stinker?**

**Okay, but seriously, this is a bit angsty. It's about-well, you'll see, won't you?**

**Usual deal: reviews or cookies. GOOD cookies. Fresh out of the oven, chocolate chip, so melty I just want to live inside that cookie for the rest of my entire existence, devouring every tasty morsel and with each swallow my need for cookies growing greater and more deadly, until finally I snap and I-**

**On second thought, reviews may be safer.  
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><p>Donna Noble considered herself to be a particularly brave person.<p>

She wasn't fearless. She was as human as the next girl—on Earth, at least. That might've made her laugh, one day a long, long time past. A lot of things could make her laugh.

Her Doctor. Her Doctor could make her laugh.

She searched deep within her heart to find him—that was her only refuge anymore, deep within herself. There was no light in her prison, not enough to see the dull, faded brown of her hair. Not enough, if she was offered a mirror, to see her gaunt face and her sunken eyes.

The door to her prison opened once every few days—at least, she supposed days passed. And then, sometimes it felt like moments.

She would've laughed at that, as well.

The door would open and scraps of food would be dropped before her waiting hands. She would lift the entire pile to her face, swallowing without reservation every bit of the flavorless grub.

This would happen twice; the next time the door would open, two human men in gray uniforms would enter, throw a bag over her head, and push her through twisting hallways, until at last she would be picked up and set upon some sort of table. There, needles were jabbed into her arms and she would fight—oh, she would _fight_ and her Doctor would be proud of her for it. She would kick and struggle, those first times, until the use of leather straps was applied, securing her for _so_ long as she was poked and prodded.

Then, it was back to her prison of darkness.

She returned, in her mind, to those tiresome, glorious days of living at home, peeved with her Mum and conspiring with her Granddad, and then Shaun…they had a house picked out. She held her breath and envisioned them there, in that gorgeous house, with perhaps a few kids running about. Half a dozen. Nineteen. One. She didn't care.

Then, she remembered the Doctor.

She remembered, _how_ she remembered that spectacular man. She remembered his bright eyes and his ringing laugh, and his hair, that mad, ruffled hair, and…she remembered his sadness when Jenny was killed. She remembered how he had clung to her after Midnight, and how terrified she had been that anything could scare him so much. She remembered the tears that sparkled in his eyes as he took her memories, everything that was good about her, and forced them to the tiniest corner of her mind.

How quickly that part of herself had surfaced in this prison—and yet here she was, the blood pounding in her ears proof of her existence.

She was alive.

For that, she had run out of tears. She was alive, and she could remember, but memories did nothing but cut away at her heart. She imagined death would be a gentler feeling.

Alive shouldn't have been sad. Breathing should have been a miracle.

She didn't know how long it went on. She lost count of the times she was made a pincushion for any sort of drips and needles. Her screams had died long ago; the pain began to linger after the procedure, until it was a constant fact rather than a distressing attack. She kept her heart upon the Doctor, that mad spaceman…_her_ spaceman. What would he have her do? Discover what was at the heart of things.

She could discover nothing in the darkness.

She fought, she fought like she had never done before. If she couldn't fight for something important, she'd fight for the only thing she could: her own life.

The Doctor would call that important.

One time, the door opened.

She sat there on the floor, staring at the space before her hands. When no food appeared, she looked up in confusion. There stood not a man, but a woman. A woman wearing an eyepatch.

"Get up," the woman ordered coldly.

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><p><strong>Le GASP!<strong>

**Reviews are simply_ ADORED_. Just like I adore you, my darlings!**

**XOXO,**

**Bella  
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	2. Chapter 2

**Hey!**

**So, I assume from the OVERWHELMING amount of delightful reviews I received last night, you all are quite enjoying this? :D THANK YOU to EVERYONE who reviewed chapter 1!**

**In this chapter, a bit more light is shed on what is happening. **

**Reviews welcome!  
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><p>Donna once would have rebelled; Seeing no victory in that, however, she obeyed Madam Kovarian, rising onto her shaky legs. Standing in the doorway, however, she managed to form words.<p>

"I want food," she said lowly. She wasn't sure if that sounded quite right—she had only spoken to her fantasies for ages. She didn't care, though; her message was clear enough.

"Well, you're certainly sentient enough." The woman analyzed her like a scientist analyzing a specimen—and there was precious little disparity between the two ideas. "I'm taking you to a room with food and drink. Follow me."

Donna did as she was told; as she stepped into the hallway, however, she came to a halt, clamping her eyes shut in the bright light. With strong determination she forced herself to squint, and as she followed the strange woman down the hallway, her vision gradually improved.

"My name is Madam Kovarian. I have been looking after you—" At this, Donna couldn't suppress a snort of derision, "—for the past eleven months."

"Why do you have me, kept here?"

At this, the woman's expression lit up, and she turned her gaze to meet Donna's. "You are the key," she said, her eyes afire. "One of two very important keys."

"How am_ I_ a key, exactly?" Donna felt a flame rise within her, a flame which she had not felt within her heart for so long. On this, however, Madam Kovarian was decidedly silent as she turned into a doorway along the hall. Donna followed her.

The room was a dull gray, though any color was welcome from darkness. In the center, there was a gray table with three places set; one was already occupied by a young girl of about ten. She looked up in interest as she saw Donna.

"Melody. Eyes on your plate."

As Madam Kovarian's sharp tone, the girl obediently turned her gaze down to her plate.

"Her name is Melody Pond," Kovarian said. "She is…precocious. But we require her, just the same as we require you."

Donna took a place at the table, where before her was a plate full of real food: mashed potatoes and gravy, beef, and candied carrots. Without further thought, she snatched up a piece of the beef in her fingers and dabbed it into the potatoes for the gravy before pushing it into her mouth, chewing a few times, and swallowing. Madam Kovarian looked down on her imperially as she ate, and before she had finished her carrots Donna knew something was amiss. Still, for the first time in ages, she had a full stomach. From the corner of her eye, she saw Melody push her own food about with her fork, until finally she looked up at Donna.

"I'm not terribly hungry," she said, her voice small. "Do you want it?"

For a moment Donna considered saying yes—there was something about the child, however, that made sympathy rise within her.

"You eat, darling," she said gently. "If you're not hungry now, you'll be eventually—just save it."

Melody's eyes widened and Donna had the sudden thought that she had never been spoken to in kindness before.

Slowly, she returned her gaze to Madam Kovarian.

"Why am I alive?"

This question brought a haughty pride into the woman's eyes.

"You are a masterpiece," she said. "My finest work so far, I daresay indeed. I simply removed that which was poisonous to you, and augmented that which was needed through delicate genetic manipulation—it took two months alone to create a strand of DNA which your body wouldn't immediately reject."

"You removed…that which was poisonous…" Donna furrowed her brow as she took it in. "You removed the Doctor's memories."

At the name of the Doctor, Donna saw Melody's head jerk up—a sharp look from Kovarian kept the girl silent.

"We were fortunate enough to discover you, indeed," the woman said. "The removal of the memories was simple enough, but we were forced to supplement our synthesized tissue repeatedly to force your body to accept its state—there was, in fact, a flicker of time energy within your genetic tissue, but not enough to accept the mental stress of losing hundreds of years' memory. The memories alone weren't deadly—it was the weakness of your body that made you so…mortal. We fixed you."

"I don't understand."

"We have created within you, as Melody was by nature, the perfect creature. You are more powerful than any human, and with a simpler mental capacity in comparison to Time Lords—we wouldn't want you _too_ intelligent, would we?" At this she laughed.

Donna swallowed any fear she may have felt. "Who are you?"

"I am brilliant—the most intelligent individual ever to have lived. That is all for now, Donna Noble. Tomorrow the work begins."

With that, she turned, stepping from the room and closing the door behind her. The moment the door was shut, Donna and Melody turned to one another.

"You know the Doctor." It was a statement, not a question, which they spoke in unison.

"I know _of_ him," Melody said softly. "He's sort of like a dream—I can remember him speaking to me, but it must've been an eternity ago—and even then, it feels like a dream."

"I knew him, and he is _very_ real," Donna said excitedly. "He looks like a man, and he walks through time like a legend, but he's more than both."

"He's a Time Lord, isn't he?" Melody's voice was earnest. "Madam Kovarian always says, she's doing what she is for the good of the Time Lords. But it's not good, is it? The Doctor, he's good, isn't he?"

"He's _very_ good," Donna assured her. "The Doctor is the best. He taught me everything about life, I suppose, everything that matters. He's just…incredible."

"Flattery will get you _everywhere." _

Donna stiffened at the voice, while Melody turned about, eyes shining with amazement.

"Doctor—_you're real!_"

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><p><strong>ENTER DOCTOR.<br>**

**Reviews are adored!**

**XOXO,  
>Bella<br>**


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